[ RadSafe ] This Day In Gadgets: ATMs Were Born Radioactive 40 Years Ago

[Cary Renquist]

<http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/this-day-in-gadgets/atms-were-born-radioactive-40-years-ago-272643.php>

ATMs Were Born Radioactive 40 Years Ago 

This is John Shepherd-Barron, the scottish guy who 
invented the first ATM. First installed 40 year ago by
Barclays, it 
worked with Carbon 14-impregnated cheques, the same
radioactive material 
that is used to date fossils. But fret not: not only
it wasn't 
radioactive enough but they were soon replaced by
cards and now even 
dogs can use them. The next step according to him: 

He says that moving money around costs too much, so
ATMs will disappear 
in just a few years. Instead, he predicts the
cellphone will become our 
next purse for all kinds of transactions. 

The ATM also brought other things, like the 4-digit
PIN number. 
Shepherd-Barron thought that he could use his
six-figure army number as 
his password, but his wife thought otherwise: "Over
the kitchen table, 
she said she could only remember four figures, so
because of her, four 
figures became the world standard." 

The man who invented the cash machine [BBC News] 

BBC NEWS |  The man who invented the cash machine
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6230194.stm>